France: Turkish-Russian ‘War’ Possible over Syria

The French president said Russia and Turkey could engage in war over Turkish involvement in Syria as Russia called for an urgent U.N. Security Council.

There is risk of a Turkish-Russian war as a result of Ankara’s involvement in Syria, French President Francois Hollande warned Friday, as Russia called for a United Nations Security Council meeting over Turkey’s actions in the war-torn country.

“Turkey is involved in Syria … There, there is a risk of war … That is why the (U.N.) Security Council is meeting,” Hollande told France Inter radio.

“I do not want to exclude Russia from the solution. I went myself to Moscow to tell Vladimir Putin, ‘All of us have to work together to make this political transition’ … but I cannot accept that at the same time that people are negotiating, they are bombing civilian populations.”

His comments came a few hours after the Russian Foreign Ministry called for an urgent U.N. Security Council meeting in order to submit a draft council resolution calling on Turkey to “cease any actions that undermine Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Moscow is concerned about the escalation of tensions on the Syria-Turkey border and Turkey’s plans to put boots on the ground in northern Syria. “It undercuts efforts to launch a political settlement in the Syrian Arab Republic,” Zakharova said.

The news comes as the Turkish military has recently conducted almost daily airstrikes in northern Syria against the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and their military wing in order to stop them from securing more areas in the Kurdish Rojava region and advancing against the Islamic State group.

Last week, Turkey and Saudi Arabia said they were ready to deploy ground troops in Syria as part of an international operation against the Islamic State group in Syria. Saudi jets have also been deployed in the southern Turkish Incirlik air base.

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Erdogan’s son-in-law, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, said the war is not only a “defensive” one waged by Turkey’s Islamist power-holders against the alleged international conspiracy. This fight also has a missionary connotation on behalf of all Muslims — on behalf of the “ummah,” or community.

“Today, Turkey is waging an existential war, a war for the future. And this war is not only for this country and this region; it is a war for the independence of the ummah,” Albayrak said in a recent speech in Trabzon province.

Artillery strikes not airstrikes, If they flew planes into Syrian airspace they’d be shot down instantly by vengeance-seeking Russians. They are however currently shelling not just military positions but civilian population centres. When some Kurdish group blows up a military convoy it’s “terrorism.” When the Turkish army intentionally targets civilian population centres, it’s… well, not even worth mentioning really.

Exactly. Worse yet, the Turks and Saudis are preparing to send in ground troops which will clearly be used to bolster their favourites among the rebel proxies and prevent the Syrian government regaining territories lost to ISIS… yet the western media insists that it’s the Russians preventing peace in Syria.

I’d be interested in reading some informed military analysis on the capabilities and strategic priorities of such a war. It’s not the 19th century, I don’t expect a Russian drive to liberate Constantinople (sadly), but apart from the Caucasus, the countries are not directly adjacent and can hardly strike at one another directly. I would assume any such war would be largely confined to air strikes, missile strikes, perhaps some minor naval action; something designed to punish, not a full-scale war to conquer territory. A bigger question would be, what might be NATO’s response to such a clash? That’s where things get interesting.